Desktop, Stream-Based, Information Management System

1. A method of operating a computer system comprising: providing the computer system with documents in respective formats according to respective different applications through which the provided documents are generated or modified, which formats differ from one of the documents to another for at least some of the provided documents, said provided documents being delivered to the computer system or generated by the computer system; said computer system being configured to automatically generate and store in computer storage respective representations of said documents provided thereto, thereby forming a main collection of document representations corresponding to a man collection of said documents; said computer system automatically generating and storing said main collection of document representations without requiring the user to designate a directory structure, a physical location for storage of document representations of corresponding documents, or another pre-imposed document categorization structure for each of said document representations or documents; selectively displaying on a computer screen graphical depictions of only a portion of the main collection of document representations, corresponding to only a portion of the main collection of documents, wherein the displayed graphical depictions of only a portion of said main collection of document representations comprise a display of partly overlapping, receding graphical depictions of document representations; said automatically generated and stored document representations being in an essentially consistent format despite differences in format from one to another of the documents corresponding thereto; said automatically generated and stored representations of said documents including respective automatically generated time indicators associated with the documents corresponding to said representations; said automatically generated and stored main collection of document representations being unbounded in time and size and being configured to include documents associated with time indicators related to future times as well as to past and present times; said automatically generated and stored main collection of document representations requiring no fixed beginning or end and being non-transitory and selectively searchable by the computer system; said computer system automatically maintaining the main collection of document representations live, dynamic and persistent by being responsive to subsequent events to expand said main collection of document representations by automatically generating and incorporating therein, in said computer storage, additional document representations of additional documents corresponding thereto that are subsequently delivered to or generated by the computer system; said additional document representations also including automatically generated respective time indicators associated with the subsequently delivered or generated documents; providing selected search criteria; causing said computer system to search at least one of said main collection of document representations and said main collection of documents according to said search criteria, to provide search results, and to utilize said search results to generate a sub-collection of document representations related to a respective sub-collection of documents that comprise a subset of the main collection of documents; said computer system automatically maintaining said sub-collection of document representations live, dynamic and persistent, and being responsive to subsequent events to expand said sub-collection of document representations by automatically incorporating therein document representations of documents that are subsequently delivered to or generated by the computer system and meet said search criteria; selectively displaying on a computer screen graphical depictions of only a portion of the sub-collection of document representations, corresponding to only a portion of said sub-collection of documents, wherein the displayed graphical depictions of said portion of said sub-collection of document representations comprise a display of partly overlapping, receding graphical depictions; automatically showing on the display screen a display of a glance view of a displayed graphical depiction while showing other displayed graphical depictions as a display of partly overlapping and receding graphical depictions; said glance view being an abbreviated version of the document representation or document corresponding to the graphical depiction and being indicative of content thereof; and said showing of the glance view occurring in response to a user designation, with an input device, of a screen area associated with the graphical depiction, without requiring dwelling of a cursor for at least about a second on a selected area of the screen associated with the currently displayed collection or sub-collection of graphical depictions in order to enable said showing of the glance view.

2. The method of operating a computer system of claim 1 in which the step of causing the computer system to search comprises selectively causing the system to search said sub-collection of document representations or sub-collection of documents in addition to or instead of searching at least one of said main collections.

3. The method of operating a computer system of claim 1 in which said storing comprises auto-archiving at least some of said documents representations and documents, and wherein the step of causing the computer system to search comprises searching encompassing both archived and non-archived document representations or documents without requiring the user to distinguish between archived and non-archived representations or documents.

4. The method of operating a computer system of claim 1 in which said computer system comprises plural personal computers containing respective computer storage facilities storing some or all of said document representations, and wherein said search criteria are provided by one of said personal computers and said step of causing to search causes a search through document representations stored in the storage facilities of multiple ones of said personal computers.

5. The method of operating a computer system of claim 1 wherein said computer system comprises at least one of plural servers and plural personal computers, and wherein said causing the computer system to search in response to said search criteria comprises responding to search criteria provided by one of said personal computers to search document representations or documents located in at least some of others of said personal computers and said servers.

6. The method of operating a computer system of claim 1 wherein said storing the main collection of document representation comprises storing the documents in a redundant array of servers.

7. The method of operating a computer system of claim 1 wherein said storing the main collection of document representations comprises storing the documents in a redundant array of servers logically arranged in rows and columns where the servers of a row store replicated documents representations and the servers of a column store different document representations.

8. The method of operating a computer system of claim 1 in which said computer system comprises plural data processing devices containing respective storage facilities each storing at least some of said document representations, and wherein said plural devices are connected through paths comprising wireless paths and search criteria provided by one of said devices cause the computer system to search through document representations stored in the storage facilities of multiple ones of said devices.

9. The method of operating a computer system of claim 2 in which said step of causing the system to search according to said search criteria uses essentially the same search process whether the search is through said main collection or through said sub-collection.

10. The method of operating a computer system of claim 1 in which said computer system automatically orders said document representations according to the time indicators associated therewith, without requiring a user command requesting time-order, and said graphical depictions are displayed in time order.

11. The method of operating a computer system of claim 1 in which said main collection of documents representations comprises a stream automatically time-ordered according to said time indicators without requiring a user command requesting time-order of said collection.

12. The method of operating a computer system of claim 1 in which said main collection of document representations or documents comprises a time-ordered diary of a person or entity's electronic life.

13. The method of operating a computer system of claim 1 in which said displaying comprises displaying the graphical depictions as a foreshortened stack.

14. The method of operating a computer system of claim 1 in which the computer system displays on said screen, together with displaying a glance view, command buttons unique to the corresponding document and responds to user designations of said command buttons with an input device to initiate computer operations related to the document.

15. The method of operating a computer system of claim 1 in which said displaying of a glance view automatically and essentially instantly changes from displaying a glance view of one graphical depiction to displaying a glance view of another graphical depiction in response to a user sliding a pointing device to another area on the screen.

16. The method of operating a computer system of claim 1 in which said main collection of documents in inclusive of all documents provided to or generated by the computer system save for deliberately deleted ones.

17. The method of operating a computer system of claim 1 in which said representations of documents comprise metadata related to the respective documents.

18. The method of operating a computer system of claim 1 in which the displayed glance view comprises a type glyph that identifies the nature of the corresponding document.

19. A computer program stored in a non-transitory manner in one or more computer storage media, said computer program when loaded and run in a computer system causing the computer system to be configured as follows and to carry out the following steps though not necessarily in the sequence recited below: receiving in or generating by the computer system plural documents in respective formats according to respective different applications through which the documents are generated or modified, which formats differ from one of the documents to another for at least some of the documents; said computer system being configured to automatically generate and store in computer storage respective representations of said documents, thereby forming a main collection of document representations corresponding to a man collection of said documents; said computer system automatically generating and storing said main collection of document representations without requiring the user to designate a directory structure, a physical location for storage of document representations of corresponding documents, or another pre-imposed document categorization structure for each of said document representations or documents; selectively displaying on a computer screen graphical depictions of only a portion of the main collection of document representations, corresponding to only a portion of the main collection of documents, wherein the displayed graphical depictions of only a portion of said main collection of document representations comprise a display of partly overlapping, receding graphical depictions of document representations; said automatically generated and stored document representations being in an essentially consistent format despite differences in format from one to another of the documents corresponding thereto; said automatically generated and stored representations of said documents including respective automatically generated time indicators associated with the documents corresponding to said representations; said automatically generated and stored main collection of document representations being unbounded in time and size and being configured to include documents associated with time indicators related to future times as well as to past and present times; said automatically generated and stored main collection of document representations requiring no fixed beginning or end and being non-transitory and selectively searchable by the computer system; said computer system automatically maintaining the main collection of document representations live, dynamic and persistent by being responsive to subsequent events to expand said main collection of document representations by automatically generating and incorporating therein, in said computer storage, additional document representations of additional documents corresponding thereto that are subsequently received by or generated by the computer system; said additional document representations also including automatically generated respective time indicators associated with the subsequently received or generated documents; providing selected search criteria; causing said computer system to search at least one of said main collection of document representations and said main collection of documents according to said search criteria, to provide search results, and to utilize said search results to generate a sub-collection of document representations related to a respective sub-collection of documents that comprise a subset of the main collection of documents; said computer system automatically maintaining said sub-collection of document representations live, dynamic and persistent, and being responsive to subsequent events to expand said sub-collection of document representations by automatically incorporating therein document representations of documents that are subsequently received by or generated by the computer system and meet said search criteria; selectively displaying on a computer screen graphical depictions of only a portion of the sub-collection of document representations, corresponding to only a portion of said sub-collection of documents, wherein the displayed graphical depictions of said portion of said sub-collection of document representations comprise a display of partly overlapping, receding graphical depictions; automatically showing on the display screen a display of a glance view of a displayed graphical depiction while showing other displayed graphical depictions as a display of partly overlapping and receding graphical depictions; said glance view being an abbreviated version of the document representation or document corresponding to the graphical depiction and being indicative of content thereof; and said showing of the glance view occurring in response to a user designation, with an input device, of a screen area associated with the graphical depiction, without requiring dwelling of a cursor for at least about a second on a selected area of the screen associated with the currently displayed collection or sub-collection of graphical depictions in order to enable said showing of the glance view.

20. The computer program of claim 19 in which the step of causing the computer system to search comprises selectively causing the system to search said sub-collection of document representations or sub-collection of documents in addition to or instead of searching at least one of said main collections.

21. The computer program of claim 19 in which said storing comprises auto-archiving at least some of said documents representations and documents, and wherein the step of causing the computer system to search comprises searching encompassing both archived and non-archived document representations or documents without requiring the user to distinguish between archived and non-archived representations or documents.

22. The computer program of claim 19 in which said computer system comprises plural personal computers containing respective computer storage facilities storing some or all of said document representations, and wherein said search criteria are provided by one of said personal computers and said step of causing to search causes a search through document representations stored in the storage facilities of multiple ones of said personal computers.

23. The computer program of claim 19 wherein said computer system comprises at least one of plural servers and plural personal computers, and wherein said causing the computer system to search in response to said search criteria comprises responding to search criteria provided by one of said personal computers to search document representations or documents located in at least some of others of said personal computers and said servers.

24. The computer program of claim 19 wherein said storing the main collection of document representation comprises storing the documents in a redundant array of servers.

25. The computer program of claim 19 wherein said storing the main collection of document representations comprises storing the documents in a redundant array of servers logically arranged in rows and columns where the servers of a row store replicated documents representations and the servers of a column store different document representations.

26. The computer program of claim 19 in which said computer system comprises plural data processing devices containing respective storage facilities each storing at least some of said document representations, and wherein said plural devices are connected through paths comprising wireless paths and search criteria provided by one of said devices cause the computer system to search through document representations stored in the storage facilities of multiple ones of said devices.

27. The computer program of claim 19 in which said step of causing the system to search according to said search criteria uses essentially the same search process whether the search is through said main collection or through said sub-collection.

28. The computer program of claim 19 in which said computer system automatically orders said document representations according to the time indicators associated therewith, without requiring a user command requesting time-order, and said graphical depictions are displayed in time order.

29. The computer program of claim 19 in which said main collection of documents representations comprises a stream automatically time-ordered according to said time indicators without requiring a user request for time order of said collection.

30. The computer program of claim 19 in which said main collection of document representations or documents comprises a time-ordered diary of a person or entity's electronic life.

31. The computer program of claim 19 in which said displaying comprises displaying the graphical depictions as a foreshortened stack.

32. The computer program of claim 19 in which the computer system displays on said screen, together with displaying a glance view, command buttons unique to the corresponding document and responds to user designations of said command buttons with an input device to initiate computer operations related to the document.

33. The computer program of claim 19 in which said displaying of a glance view automatically and essentially instantly changes from displaying a glance view of one graphical depiction to displaying a glance view of another graphical depiction in response to a user sliding a pointing device to another area on the screen.

34. The computer program of claim 19 in which said main collection of documents in inclusive of all documents received by or generated by the computer system save for deliberately deleted ones.

35. The computer program of claim 19 in which said representations of documents comprise metadata related to the respective documents.

36. The computer program of claim 19 in which the displayed glance view comprises a type glyph that identifies the nature of the corresponding document.

37. A computer system comprising: a computer processing unit receiving or generating documents in respective formats according to respective different applications through which the documents are generated or modified, which formats differ from one of the documents to another for at least some of the documents; computer storage facilities; said processing unit being configured to automatically generate and store in said computer storage facilities respective representations of said documents, thereby forming a main collection of document representations corresponding to a man collection of said documents; said processing unit automatically generating and storing said main collection of document representations without requiring the user to designate a directory structure, a physical location for storage of document representations of corresponding documents, or another pre-imposed document categorization structure for each of said document representations or documents; a computer screen and a display unit selectively displaying on the computer screen graphical depictions of only a portion of the main collection of document representations, corresponding to only a portion of the main collection of documents, wherein the displayed graphical depictions of only a portion of said main collection of document representations comprise a display of partly overlapping, receding graphical depictions of document representations; said automatically generated and stored document representations being in an essentially consistent format despite differences in format from one to another of the documents corresponding thereto; said automatically generated and stored representations of said documents including respective automatically generated time indicators associated with the documents corresponding to said representations; said automatically generated and stored main collection of document representations being unbounded in time and size and being configured to include documents associated with time indicators related to future times as well as to past and present times; said automatically generated and stored main collection of document representations requiring no fixed beginning or end and being non-transitory and selectively searchable by the computer system; said computer processing unit being configured to automatically maintain the main collection of document representations live, dynamic and persistent by being responsive to subsequent events to expand said main collection of document representations by automatically generating and incorporating therein, in said computer storage facilities, additional document representations of additional documents corresponding thereto that are subsequently received or generated thereby; said additional document representations also including automatically generated respective time indicators associated with the subsequently delivered or generated documents; said processing unit being further configured to receive selected search criteria; said processing unit being configured to respond to a receipt of said search criteria by searching at least one of said main collection of document representations and said main collection of documents according to said search criteria and provide search results, and to utilize said search results to generate a sub-collection of document representations related to a respective sub-collection of documents that comprise a subset of the main collection of documents; said processing unit being configured to automatically maintain said sub-collection of document representations live, dynamic and persistent, and being responsive to subsequent events to expand said sub-collection of document representations by automatically incorporating therein document representations of documents that are subsequently received by or generated and meet said search criteria; said display unit being configured to selectively display on the screen graphical depictions of only a portion of the sub-collection of document representations, corresponding to only a portion of said sub-collection of documents, wherein the displayed graphical depictions of said portion of said sub-collection of document representations comprise a display of partly overlapping, receding graphical depictions; said processing unit and display unit being configured to automatically show on the screen a display of a glance view of a displayed graphical depiction while showing on the screen other displayed graphical depictions as a display of partly overlapping and receding graphical depictions; said glance view being an abbreviated version of the document representation or document corresponding to the graphical depiction and being indicative of content thereof; and said showing of the glance view occurring in response to a user designation, with an input device, of a screen area associated with the graphical depiction, without requiring dwelling of a cursor for at least about a second on a selected area of the screen associated with the currently displayed collection or sub-collection of graphical depictions in order to enable said showing of the glance view.

38. The computer system of claim 37 in which the processing unit is further configured to selectively search said sub-collection of document representations or sub-collection of documents in addition to or instead of searching at least one of said main collections.

39. The computer system of claim 37 in which said processing unit is configured to auto-archive at least some of said documents representations and documents, and to search both archived and non-archived document representations or documents without requiring the user to distinguish between archived and non-archived representations or documents.

40. The computer system of claim 37 in which said computer processing unit comprises plural personal computers containing respective computer storage facilities storing some or all of said document representations, and is configured to receive search criteria provided by one of said personal computers and in response to search through document representations stored in the storage facilities of multiple ones of said personal computers.

41. The computer system of claim 37 wherein said computer processing unit comprises at least one of plural servers and plural personal computers, and wherein said searching in response to said search criteria comprises responding to search criteria provided by one of said personal computers to search document representations or documents located in at least some of others of said personal computers and said servers.

42. The computer system of claim 37 including a redundant array of servers storing the main collection of document representation.

43. The computer system of claim 37 including a redundant array of servers logically arranged in rows and columns, said array storing the main collection of document representations such that the servers of a row store replicated documents representations and the servers of a column store different document representations.

44. The computer system of claim 37 in which said computer processing unit comprises plural data processing devices containing respective storage facilities each storing at least some of said document representations, said plural devices being connected through paths comprising wireless paths, and wherein said processing unit is configured to respond to search criteria provided by one of said devices by searchingthrough document representations stored in the storage facilities of multiple ones of said devices.

45. The computer system of claim 37 in which said processing unit is configured to search according to said search criteria using essentially the same search process whether the search is through said main collection or through said sub-collection.

46. The computer system of claim 37 in which said computer processing unit is configured to automatically order said document representations according to the time indicators associated therewith, without requiring a user command requesting time-order, and said graphical depictions are displayed in time order.

47. The computer system of claim 37 in which said processing unit is configured to automatically organize said main collection of documents representations as a stream time-ordered according to said time indicators, without requiring a used command requesting time order.

48. The computer system of claim 37 in which said processing unit is configured to automatically organize said main collection of document representations or documents as a time-ordered diary of a person or entity's electronic life.

49. The computer system of claim 37 in which said display init is configured to display the graphical depictions as a foreshortened stack.

50. The computer system of claim 37 in which the display unit is configured to display on said screen, together with displaying a glance view, command buttons unique to the corresponding document and said processing unit is configured to respond to user designations of said command buttons with an input device to initiate computer operations related to the document.

51. The computer system of claim 37 in which said display init is configured to automatically and essentially instantly change from displaying a glance view of one graphical depiction to displaying a glance view of another graphical depiction in response to a user sliding a pointing device to another area on the screen.

52. The computer system of claim 37 in which said processing unit is configured to make the main collection of documents inclusive of all documents received by to or generated by the computer system save for deliberately deleted ones.

53. The computer system of claim 37 in which said representations of documents comprise metadata related to the respective documents.

54. The computer system of claim 37 in which the displayed glance view comprises a type glyph that identifies the nature of the corresponding document.